We’re starting the week with a beautifully whimsical beach wedding. Gorgeous couple Sophie & Carl walked with their guests down 200 steps to a secret beach for probably the most amazing photos. Their wedding venue is styled with dried flowers – Sophie carries a surprising dried bouquet – and it’s all just too lovely for words! We love Sophie’s Grace Loves Lace dress with a slit up the side – perfect for a walk to the beach and a cheeky dip in the ocean! Incredible photos by Alexa Poppe Photography, who gets an excellent review from our completely happy couple!
The predominant advice we got on the run as much as the day which we would really like to share was that the day goes by so fast and to make time to spend alone together. We’re so glad we did this, now we have some gorgeous memories of sneaking off together for a drink and to admire the ocean view.
Wedding photographer’s website
Alexa Poppe: https://www.alexapoppeweddingphotography.com/
Wedding photographer review
Alexa is wonderful- she understood the relaxed vibe we wanted for the day and made probably the most of all of the amazing scenery around us. She is great fun to be around and made us feel really relaxed. We now have memories to treasure ceaselessly that she captured splendidly.
Your best moment or memory
We now have so many wonderful memories of the day however the one we each share as a favorite moment is the primary time we saw one another. There are such a lot of nerves and a lot excitement on the day build up to that moment that it could possibly feel a little bit overwhelming but as soon as we saw each other every part and each one else just melted away. It was so special to make eye contact and just see the relief and feel the happiness and emotion in us each and we knew in that moment that the entire day would just be perfect and it was! The entire ceremony was something we had felt nervous about and it ended up feeling so special and personalised to us.
Tell us anything you probably did otherwise – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none in any respect!)
We kept our wedding really small and intimate which we’re so pleased about. We got to spend so far more time with the people closest to us. This meant we selected no bridesmaids or a best man because everyone there was really special. We also selected to write down our own vows which felt so emotional and private. So a lot of our guests commented on how special it was to listen to personal vows. We took our whole wedding party to a very amazing beach, called Broadsands. The one approach to get there’s through some woodland and down 200 steps which the venue was initially surprised we desired to do. We all know our guests and we knew everyone could be up for it. This made our wedding unique and memorable for us all and created such variation for our photos. It’s a really magical place that we associate now with our day and can proceed to go to for a few years to return.
Venue name + review
Sandy Cove Hotel, Berrynarbor
The venue on the day was sensible, every part ran easily and the setting is second to none. It was exactly as we wanted it to be. Nonetheless, we didn’t have the perfect experience on the run as much as the marriage as we were passed between so many members of staff which resulted in multiple repeat conversations. We also had several challenges about being vegetarian and were made to feel a burden to the staff.
Tell us a little bit about your outfits – each of you!
Bride- I adored my dress! I wanted something that also felt bridal but that wasn’t too OTT as we wanted a reasonably casual and relaxed day. It had an enormous split which allowed me to run into the ocean and tackle all those steps and it had layers of various lace on top of silk. I dreamt of eyelash and chantilly lace and I discovered it in a single dress. I also wore an oversized denim jacket personalised with ‘Mrs Ashton’ and pearls to match the pearls on my dress. My veil was the monet veil by grace loves lace. The Groom- the suit matched the day splendidly. It was a sandy colored suit with a waistcoat and trousers that rolled up easily for paddling. We had a very warm day in September and we each felt comfortable and special in our outfits. Guilty pleasure- we each rocked crocs on the day!
Dress or suit shop name + review
Grace loves lace- song gown
Hugo Boss suit
Florist name + review
Pampas by post- dried flowers. Sammy was wonderful- we met her only once to debate our ideas and for her to point out us the variations of dried flowers. I sent her some Pinterest photos and she or he created every part perfectly based on those. The arch pieces were stunning and really easy to drive from Manchester to Devon and looked amazing! My bridal bouquet was stunning, I had a vision of a dried protea which not many individuals have and Sammy sourced the proper one. We couldn’t have been happier and what makes dried flowers so wonderful is we’ve kept so a lot of them and gifted others to our families.
Cake maker name + review
Bibble Bakes – Gorgeous cakes each visually and to taste! We also had vegan cupcakes to go alongside our predominant cake and which also went down thoroughly! Our orca cake toppers matched the attractive shell decorations perfectly- it was so personal and reflected our favourite adventure together to Canada which everyone commented on.
Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?
All the place setting cards were designed by myself using an Etsy template, including the illustrations. I actually wanted every part to be sea themed because it’s my favourite place to be. My mum made the place setting board to connect them to, in addition to the welcome sign which was beautiful. She included shell paintings which made them much more bespoke and special and plenty of people had a photograph with the sign. For place settings we also decided to be a bit different and print our own within the kind of Polaroid photos- we selected our favourite photo of us with that person to display for his or her seat. This also went down very well as everyone enjoyed each others photos they usually were conversation starter.
Wedding readings?
My best friend of honour read a vow by Wendy Cope
First dance song? Playlist recommendations?
Paolo Nutini- loving you performed by Sam Dowden who is an excellent local guitarist and singer in north Devon. We went from Paolo to wheatus- teenage dirtbag to Dr Dre! The wonderful thing about a small guest list was we could select music we knew all of our guests loved to make everyone feel comfortable and involved!
Hair + makeup name + review
Natalie Nichols for hair who was amazing! She gave me a lot advice for extensions to have more volume and thickness in my braids. She also had suggestions for hair accessories which worked perfectly for what I wanted. She was a very calming influence on the day for everybody and my bridal party were also really pleased with their hair. Loved her company and couldn’t have been happier with the final result. Stacey Louise MUA – Stacey gave great advice as the entire wedding party weren’t overly confident on make up and she or he made everyone feel beautiful. Stacey also gave me advice on the run up the marriage on skincare to ensure that my make up application was as perfect as possible. They each arrived on time and got us all ready with time to spare!
